


Time and place

by VyraFinn



Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: AU Story, Denmark and Sweden are vikings, Finland is ghost hunter, Iceland is the poor guy who gets involved against his will, M/M, Norway is a witch, as usually
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-04
Updated: 2018-11-17
Packaged: 2019-08-18 18:25:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 10,187
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16522322
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VyraFinn/pseuds/VyraFinn
Summary: After his brother disappeared during a time travel, Eiríkur needs help of an eccentric ghost hunter to get him back. They really don't know what they are doing, but they are ready to try because there isn't any other options.However, for Sigurd being stuck in time is not the only problem. Being a witch from future turns out to be dangerous, he gets bit too powerful enemies and his magic is gone. Also, one certain viking man is giving him way too much attention and Sigurd is feeling rather conflicted about that. He just hopes he can find a way back home before somebody takes his head... or heart.





	1. Needing help

**Author's Note:**

> This is an AU story where the Nordics are humans so human names are used:  
> Finland = Tino  
> Iceland = Eiríkur  
> Norway = Sigurd  
> Sweden = Berwald  
> Denmark = I will tell later after I figure out which one I wanna use this time.
> 
> Wanna know more about the plot? Check out the tumblr post from my blog :)

“One more satisfied customer”, Tino said happily and looked at the bike storage that was still as dark and scary place than before, but now it smelled strangely like lavender. If the Finnish man could, he would have clapped himself on back. So satisfied he was with his work. Too bad, he was pretty much only one who appreciated it or could see it at all. Of course, the ghost that had been living in that bike storage already for few decades was happy too, but he had already proceeded straight to the after-life without stopping to say simple thank you so Tino didn’t get company from him. At the start of his career he had felt upset when the spirits left so quickly after he helped them, but he had soon learnt that moving on was such a big thing for them so they simply forgot the manners. He could understand it after he spent a moment to think what he would do if he had spent years stuck in some dark, smelly place and then suddenly left out. Yeah, he would also ignore some thank yous and goodbyes. That’s why the Finn had started to ask to get the payment before helping the spirit.

“I should get nice amount from this”, he said, looking at the old coin the ghost had given him. Usually spirits didn’t had much on them, it made sense because very few people planned their passing aways, but whatever they had usually had some value. Tino would have gladly done his job for free, but sadly he needed money for living and having any kind of normal job had turned out to be impossible for him. He had tried. Oh, he had tried so many times, but no work place could take random demon attacks or spirits wandering around. It wasn’t Tino’s fault, not really, but the skill of seeing spirits wasn’t very common and even more rare was it being connected to exorcism skills so in some company Tino was very wanted man. That’s why he did ghost hunting, demon punishing, spirit helping, whatever he called it, as his full time job and made him living out of the old stuff and hidden treasures the spirit gave him. Too bad, that wasn’t really steady way to get money so he was living in his van and eating tuna with rice most of days.

“I saw him going in there”, a voice said somewhere outside, and Tino knew it was time for him to run. He had already checked that there were several ways out of the storage and he had left his van in safe distance so he should be able to sneak out without problems. He really hated when people got so possessed over their property and stuff like why they couldn’t just let him do his job? He wasn’t even stealing anything and still he got police after him for some stupid breaking in or something. Tino really hated that and he didn’t have patience to speak himself out of yet another police case, so he quickly left the site and carefully hid his wounded arm under his jacket.

“Hey, Hana”, he said when he got to the van without being saw this time, “don’t worry. I got some stuff to exchange for money and didn’t even got badly hurt this time! We gonna eat well this week.” The small, white dog wagged her tail and rushed to play with the jacket the Finnish man threw in the van. His shirt had got blood stains but he had happy that the jacket was still clean. Getting new shirts was easy thing, but jackets were so expensive. Especially the winter ones, and he really needed a good winter jacket to survive the cold season in north. 

“Just a small cut”, he noted after taking a better look of his wound, “I don’t think he really meant to do this, but you know how ghosts are, Hana. They just kinda forget stuff and they are all kinda mad after all this time.” Spirits could not hurt humans, that was basic information, but sadly Tino’s skills had the bad side too. He could see and communicate with spirit, which meant they too could interact with him. He was literally one of the rare living people who could be touched by spirit and some of them didn’t really took it well and some… Well, some had anger toward humans and it wasn’t really good idea to show up front of such fella with being the only human they could possibly hurt. Tino had learnt to be quite good with patching himself up and fight to survive so long the exorcism was done. 

“I am just gonna wrap this up, change shirt and then we can drive off from here”, he continued to talk to his dog while sitting down on van’s floor with a small first aid box on his lap, “I kinda want to leave Norway already, everything is so expensive you know, but I feel like our job here is not done yet. I would so love to get to Sweden or even back home to Finland…” He continued to talk even if the dog offered nothing for reply. He just enjoyed to have some voice around even if it was just his own. He had had a radio before but one troubled spirit had used it to contact him and broke the radio in process, and Tino hadn’t have money to replace of fix it. 

“Sometimes I hope they would just send me a letter or something”, the Finn muttered, giving a sad look at the poor radio that still laid on the small shelf he had built in the van, “like yeah, bloody messages on mirrors, spooky radio sending and mysterious voices from woods sure are more they style but come on, let me have my normal human moments. Just once, give me a job that starts with just a phone ring!” Barely had he said that when his phone ringed, the old Nokia tune startling the man as he very rarely got to heard it. He frowned and shared a look with his dog.

“You think they spying on me?” he asked with a shrug, “well, better to take the call and see what it is about.”

****** 

Eiríkur was like any normal 16 years old from old magic family. He went to school, he had friends, he fought his brother about his weekly allowance and house duties, he did magic stuff now and then and he liked to be out way longer than his brother liked. For teenager he wasn’t so rebel, but he still had some stuff he didn’t tell Sigurd about and sometimes he complained about other stuff. 

Sigurd was like any normal 24 years old from old magic family. He had a job, he had some friends although Eiríkur told him they weren’t really friends because he never did things with them, he fought his brother about things because he happened to be his legal guardian too, sometimes he did magic things and for sure he would have lot to say about how long Eiríkur had been out last night if he hadn’t disappeared somewhere. 

Eiríkur skipped the school the day he realized his brother hadn’t come back. Sigurd would never leave him alone, he knew it well, and the message on fridge door said he would come back. In fact it said; hey brother, I am going for a quick trip. Be back for dinner. Don’t forget your homework and it is your turn to do dishes. 

The word “trip” was a code word. Yes, it meant a trip, but not the kind people usually did. It meant Sigurd had for some reason traveled in time. It was normal for him, he had a gift to do so. It was a family gift, but nobody had ever been so powerful with it as Sigurd was. Most of them could only travel back few years, max decade or two, and Eiríkur himself could only go to last afternoon which was rather boring thing to do so he rarely bothered with that skill. Sigurd however, he could go anywhere. 

So there he was. Somewhere in time. 

He hadn’t come back yet. It had been over 24 hours since he had left and Eiríkur was getting worried. He knew something was wrong, Sigurd had gone too far or something bad had happened so he was stuck somewhere in past. That had never happened before and Sigurd had always been rather confident in his skills so they had never discussed about the case of something actually going wrong. Eiríkur had absolutely no idea what to do, and although he was living his best teenager years, he felt like he needed an adult. Somebody needed to come and help them. 

Too bad, the brothers were the last of their family, and they needed magic help so there weren’t really much options. The magical community was small, closed up due to their harsh history, and basically nobody ever trusted anybody else. Too many bad things had happened and Sigurd too had warned Eiríkur about ever taking contact to another magical being. Not that Eiríkur usually cared because for him magic was just boring extra thing he could live without and he had no interest to explore it more. 

But he knew he needed help to get his brother back. So for a while he gave up his tries to be a normal teenager and went into some places Sigurd would never allowed him to go and probably would ground him right when he was back, but sometimes people needed to do things like that. Luckily, he didn’t got any unwanted attention or problems. Instead, he was handed a phone number of somebody who liked to help. The shady guy giving the number didn’t explain more about who exactly this helping person was and Eiríkur wasn’t sure if he had explained the problem clearly enough because he had skip lot of details, but there wasn’t much options and he was ready to try anything. So he thanked the shady man, drank the milk the bar keeper had mockingly gave him, and went home. He spent lot of time staring at the small piece of yellow paper with 12 digits written with black ink, and the he sighed and picked up his phone. 

“Hey”, he said when the call connected after bit too long time, “are you Tino? The ghost hunter? I think I need some help.”


	2. Top secret business

“Hallo?” Tino said to the phone. He had long time ago learnt that people like him should not answer with their name. You never knew who was calling and in his case stubborn telemarketers were far from the worst case. Thought, Tino also hated telemarketers and had quite lot of horrible memories from the time he had decided to try that career and ended up having own spirit hotline. That of course meant he got fired because for anybody else it sounded like he was talking to himself about absurd topics. How could he had known they recorded all the calls and kept check on who was actually working? Like they probably mentioned that in the welcome meeting for new workers, but there had been also a ghost that demanded attention so technically it wasn’t Tino’s fault he had missed lot of stuff. 

“Hey”, the strange voice replied, “are you Tino? The ghost hunter? I think I need some help.” Tino frowned, sharing a look with his dog and pressing his finger on his lips to sign that she should be quiet.

“Depends on who is asking”, he said, feeling bit silly because he had always wanted to say that sentence but rarely had a chance for it.

“My name is Eiríkur”, the stranger replied and that was the moment Tino knew he wasn’t a danger. No bounty hunter, magical enemy or police officer would ever had said their name like that, and spirits didn’t have names anyway. Sure there had to be something magical involved if this Eiríkur was asking help from him, but so far that Tino knew he was alive and probably a novice with the business. He was lucky Tino wasn’t a bad guy because this would have been a chance of life time to do some bad stuff. 

“Yeah, okay, I am Tino”, he said, “do you need summoning, exorcism, or punishment?”

“Summoning, I guess?” Eiríkur said, sounding confused and unsure.

“Is it about spirit or demon?” Tino asked, “demon gonna cost you damn lot more.”

“Um… neither”, Eiríkur replied, “it is my brother who…”

“Human? Living one?”

“I hope he is still living.”

“Okay, listen”, Tino said with a sigh, “I don’t summon living beings, you know, it is really messed up thing to do. If your brother still lives, I can’t do much.”

“But…”

“And I really don’t wanna get involved in any weird family dramas.”

“It is not…”

“So sorry, can’t do.”

“Please, listen at least!” Eiríkur pleaded and Tino, who had already had his finger over the red button, moved the phone back on his ear. He had always been soft, he knew it, if he wasn’t that he would have never gave his life for helping spirits. He was literally risking his health and mental stability, social life and future for the worst salary ever. Only the total idiots or kind people did that, and Tino liked to think he wasn’t a total idiot.

“Okay”, he sighed, already knowing he was going to get a new job. At least he hoped the kid was gonna pay him enough to cover few months.

“My brother is a time traveler”, the kid told him, “about a week ago he went to the past and he hadn’t come home yet.”

“So what?” asked Tino, who had always had a habit to disappear, “everybody gets busy sometimes and miss the date.”

“He is time traveler”, Eiríkur repeated, “he should have been back on almost the very moment he left if things were alright.”

“Oh”, Tino said and frowned, “right.”

“Usually he is back in few hours after he left”, Eiríkur continued, “so he doesn’t mess up the timeline.”

“Uh, okay.”

“It has been too long time. Something had gone wrong and I need help to get him back home.” Eiríkur sounded worried and lost, just like any kid who suddenly was alone without the one person always figuring things out for them. Tino felt pity but also worry because this kid really had no idea how the magic people worked. He was giving out way too much info and trusting too blindly on total stranger on phone. Tino decided he needed to help the kid out and then probably also have a talk with this brother who seemed to have completely ignored some most important lessons of their community. 

“Okay, kiddo”, he said and ignored Eiríkur’s quiet complain about the new nickname, “I am not a pro with time travel stuff, I am more for ghost and spirit and stuff like that, but I can come over and see what I can do. It will cost you, tho.”

“That’s fine”, Eiríkur replied, “I have… Savings. You can have those.”

“Savings. Sure”, Tino said, rolling his eyes, “okay, where we gonna meet?”

“Uh… Do you know Bergen?”

“Been there few times.”

“Okay, there is mostly empty parking place just a small distance from the lift to the mountain Ulriken. Would that work?” Tino thought for a moment and nodded then. He could recall the place somewhat, and for what he remembered it was just perfectly shady for him, but still a public place. It was a safe pick for both of them, he thought and wondered if the kid’s senses were finally kicking in.

“Yeah okay, it will take me four days to get there”, Tino said, adding bit time so he could arrive early and check out the place. He had learnt some stuff and to be cautious from his work, “so it will be Friday. You okay with 21:33 o’clock?”

“Of course”, Eiríkur replied, “why 33 and not 30?”   
  
“I hate even numbers, that’s why”, Tino replied happily, “see you then, don’t be late!”

**** 

After the phone call Eiríkur had felt relieved and hopeful. He was going to get help and even if Tino had said time travelling wasn’t his profession, he was an adult with magic skills and that was already much better than be a teenager with very little of magic. Also, it sounded like he was specialized for helping and that was really promising. So he felt quite good, until he actually saw Tino.

Because his brother had told him magic people were not always the friendliest folk around, Eiríkur took care to arrive to the empty parking lot bit earlier just to see nothing weird was going on. There was only one car there, a big green van with rust here and there partly covered with stickers, and nobody else showed up while Eiríkur waited so he assumed with some disappointment that Tino had to be the man sitting on van’s hood. That man even looked like he was casually waiting somebody, his legs crossed over another and eyes looking around bit too carefully to give the idea of somebody just relaxing after long day.

“Are you Tino?” Eiríkur asked when he had walked close enough to man who didn’t look at him at once although it was sure he knew he was there.

“Are you Eiríkur?” he asked back

“Yes”, Eiríkur said, “thank you for coming here. I…”

“Let’s see first if I can do anything”, Tino interrupted and slided down off the hood. Now that his attention was on Eiríkur, he observed the young man with curiosity and barely hidden skills of somebody that tended to get in problems with people. He was calculating if Eiríkur was going to be one of those problems too, while Eiríkur already felt like Tino definitely could be a problem.

First of all, the man had the ugliest van Eiríkur had ever seen and it literally screamed that something shady going on. Eiríkur didn’t even want to see how it looked inside because he was sure whatever happened in there couldn’t be anything legal or morally right. Secondly, although Tino looked mostly like any normal human being, there was something unnerving in his looks. Like a hint of wildness and hidden power behind the smile, and there was no way to be sure if he wanted good or bad for others. Everything in him screamed about long life of fighting and surviving, making Eiríkur feel unsure and worried. Still, Tino smiled warmly and reached his hand for a shake.

“I am Tino”, he said, “ghost whisperer, demon hunter and full-time spiritual therapist for lost souls. Now, if you could tell me bit more about this case?”

“Yeah sure”, Eiríkur muttered and shook the offered hand, “my brother…”

“What is his name?”

“Sigurd”, he replied, “Sigurd Stian Andersen. He is a witch with time travelling skill. It runs in family, but we are the last ones so it is not really common skill.”

“And he hasn’t come back from his time trip?” Tino asked, “you sure he hasn’t just got busy with something somewhere?”

“I am sure”, Eiríkur replied, “he would never leave without telling me. He is… has been always bit over-protective about me.”

“Oh right, normal big brother syndrome”, Tino nodded, “when he was born?”

“He is 24.”

“I asked when he was born”, Tino repeated and Eiríkur frowned.

“Uh… Seventeenth of May 1994”, he said, “why you…”

“Do you happen to know the exact time?”

“No”, Eiríkur said with confused tone, “it was an early morning but…”

“Okay, that is close enough”, Tino muttered and seemed to phase out for the moment without any reason.

“Why you…?”

“No reason”, Tino said with that same warm, hiding smile on his lips, “tell me, why you just haven’t get him yourself? You are his brother and you said the skill runs in family so surely you have got it too.” Eiríkur looked slightly embarrassed, but gave the answer anyway.

“I much weaker than my brother”, he explained with a shrug, “he can go pretty much anywhere, but I am limited to about 12 hours. Also, there is no way to know exactly where he has gone so even if I was strong enough it would be just a wild hunt in time. Would take me forever to find him.”

“I see”, Tino muttered and scratched his chin while thinking. A dog barked in the van, making Eiríkur pale a bit. He still tried to not think what kind of stuff Tino was actually doing and why he had so much bandages and band-aids on him. Eiríkur couldn’t even see the man’s whole body but at least his wrist and neck were bandages and band-aids covered some cuts on his hands and face. It didn’t really look like he was up to any good business. 

“It is just my hellhound”, Tino said after he noticed the look on young man’s face, “she is really nice and well-trained, don’t worry.”

“She is what?”

“Well-trained and…”, Tino started to repeat with a sigh, but Eiríkur shook his head.

“You have a hellhound?” he asked and frowned, “what is that anyway?”

“Oh right, you are a beginner with this. Forgot for a moment”, Tino said with a smirk, “she is a dog I summoned from underground. You know, I am actually a real ghost whisperer, demon babysitter whatever they call me now.”

“I am what?” Eiríkur asked but decided then he didn’t even want to know so he continued quickly, “is that even real? You can see ghosts? I thought ghosts doesn’t exists.” 

“Well, you could tell that to the guy behind you.” Eiríkur froze, feeling the unwanted creep going down his back. He glanced over his shoulder, seeing nobody there. In fact there wasn’t even other cars and the closest building was in good distance so there was absolutely nobody standing behind him and he could see it easily. 

“Oh, that trick gets people every time”, Tino laughed and Eiríkur gave him a bad look, but not too bad because this absolutely madman was still the only one who could or bothered to help him. No matter how shady Tino seemed to be, Eiríkur wasn’t so stupid he would decline the only help.

“That wasn’t funny”, he muttered, “so are ghosts real or not?”

“Oh, they for sure are”, Tino nodded, “but don’t worry, they can’t hurt living so unless you are very easily scared and has heart problems, you are safe.”

“Okay”, Eiríkur muttered.

“So, back to the case”, Tino said with the same strangely happy tone he had used the whole time. It really gave the completely new tone to the already sketchy feeling situation, “I think the first thing we do is to check the place he used his magic. I guess that is your home, right?”

“Yeah”, Eiríkur said, “he usually travels from home. Unless he wants to see a specific place and it is faster to travel there in modern days.”

“But this time he was home?”

“Pretty sure about that.”

“Well, we will find it out easily once we are there”, Tino said and turned to hop into the van, “you gotta give me directions.”

“Um…”

“What?”

“Would you mind if we go with a bus?” Eiríkur asked, “no offense but that van doesn’t look like it is smart idea for strangers to step in it.” For his surprise Tino mostly looked like he was appreciating the younger man’s comment, even nodding for acceptance.

“Finally some common sense from you”, he muttered but Eiríkur wasn’t sure if he heard that part right, “it is okay for me. Just let me get my hellhound first.”

“Yeah”, Eiríkur said and smartly took few steps back when Tino went to open the side door. He didn’t see inside to the van, just like he didn’t want to, but he for sure saw the small white dog that stormed out and yelped happily few times while running circles around his master’s feet. It was the one most well-kept dog Eiríkur had ever seen, the white fur shining spotless and the dog moving around with joy. It was also rather small dog, almost the size of one that could travel around in handbag. 

“I thought you said she is a hellhound”, Eiríkur muttered and dutifully reached to scratch the dog behind ear when she ran to him.

“Yeah”, Tino replied, “she is a hellhound. Her name is Hana.”

“She doesn’t look like one.”

“And how the hell you know how they look like?” Tino asked with a smirk, “you didn’t even know there are some before I told you just five minutes ago.” Eiríkur shrugged, admitting that Tino was right but still having hard time to believe the white little dog had anything to do with such thing. He was quick to assume that Tino just called the dog hellhound for jokes and in fact it was just a normal dog he had picked up from somewhere. 

“I hope the police will not take your car”, he muttered when Tino picked up a backpack and they started to walk around, “it looks damn suspicious.”

“What car you speaking about?” Tino asked.

“The one you left…”, Eiríkur started to say and glanced over his shoulder, only to see the completely empty parking lot, “what did you do to it? It is gone?”

“Magic”, Tino replied with a laugh and waved his fingers, “okay, let’s go now. We have lot to do if we wanna get your brother back.”

“Yeah”, Eiríkur said and walked bit faster to keep up with the strange man he had asked help from. He was still feeling suspicious about Tino and there definitely was something going on with him, but Eiríkur missed his brother and for the first time since Sigurd had disappeared there was some hope. Tino would help, he knew that, it was completely another question which kind of help that would be.


	3. How to be a viking

The moment Sigurd knew he had screw up, he sat down on the ground and just quietly blamed himself, letting the panic overcome his mind. It had been raining earlier so everything in the forest was wet but he didn’t care much about the water and chill sneaking on his skin when his whole life was crashing down.

Before that moment everything had been just fun and exciting. He had finally fulfilled one of his dreams and traveled far to the viking time, around to year 850 to be exact. He had wanted to do that for a long time, but although he had the power he also needed something man made from that era in order to travel. That was how the time travelling worked and why he couldn’t just go anywhere he wanted. The future was closed off, unless another time travel came to his time with something with them, and from the past only the object from that exact time could bring him to there. He wasn’t sure why it was so but he assumed that the energy of the person making the object stayed on and made it possible for his powers to contact on that time point. Whatever was the truth, it was the only way for him to travel in time. That, with his interest on history, was the reason why he had decided to work in archeology. It gave him better chance to find objects to use for travels.

So when he finally, after long and tiring search managed to find an authentic piece of viking ax and even smuggle it to home, he was happier than ever since his little brother moved in with him. Finally he had a chance to see how things really were back then and he didn’t even need to steal stuff from museum like he had started to plan in his desperate thoughts. He had planned his travel carefully and spent weeks with thinking what he wanted to see and do, only for the piece of axe to bring him straight on lap of Magnus. 

It wasn’t uncommon for Sigurd’s travels to start with embarrassing or awkward showing ups, but this was the very first time he literally found himself sitting on lap of rather surprised viking man. Sigurd hold still, trying to quickly get over the confusing feeling the time travelling always gave him for few minutes, and to check where he was. 

“Well”, Magnus had said before Sigurd fully understood where he was, and stared at the man on his lap while slowly swiping off the drink he had spilled, “seems like the goddess finally answered to my prayers.” Sigurd stared back, slowly realizing in which situation he had landed in. Luckily the viking man didn’t seem to get angry or too shocked, which definitely was promising. Sigurd had soon learnt that the farther he went in past the more easily people just accepted everything magic. He guessed it was because they lived on believing all those stories on trolls and other magic folk were real, unlike the people of modern times did. However, he had never before fell directly on anybody so he just hoped the man wouldn’t take it as an offense and attack him. 

“Let me go”, he snarled when Magnus sneaked his arm around his waist and started to pull him into tighter hug. The viking man’s smile widened.

“She for sure answered my prayers!” he exclaimed, seeming to be rather pleased of his sudden visitor, which made Sigurd later think there had to be something seriously wrong with this man, “thousand time thanked and honoured to be Freja!” 

“I already told you to let me go!” Sigurd said and showed his elbow on the man’s side. Magnus moved his arms away, but grinned like Sigurd’s reaction was just what he had expected, and appreciated it.

“Could I have your name, gorgeous?” he asked, placing his mug on table and getting up to get better look of Sigurd who was now giving the viking man careful glares across the room. He was still rather happy the man didn’t seem to want his head off because of witchcraft and sudden invasion of personal space, but he also wasn’t too excited about the stuff the man kept saying. 

“What are you calling me?” he asked instead of replying because even if he had used years to study the old Norse, that word wasn’t familiar for him and he couldn’t connect it to any terms he knew. His scholar side was rather upset about it, but it wasn’t a time to be sad about his poor vocabulary. 

“Just appreciating your beauty”, Magnus replied with a warm smile and sneaked few steps closer, “I never asked for Freja to give me such handsome man, more asked I for strong nature, but I see I have greatly pleased her with my gifts and she decided to give me even more than I dared to wish for.” Sigurd glared at the man for a moment, totally confused before he realized what the viking was speaking about.

“You think I was sent to you by Freja?” he asked and Magnus nodded eagerly. At least that explained why the strange viking wasn’t too upset about suddenly getting his lap full of strange man out of nowhere. 

“You appeared on my lap, in my own house, only mere hours after I once again prayed and sacrificed for her”, he said, “surely you are the one she sent for me.”

“I don’t think so.”

“I never asked for docile one”, Magnus replied with a smile, “or for an instant solution. More I prayed for a chance to win and receive love and that I have got. I promise you, my handsome stranger, I will take care to show you what I can be if you just let me.”

“Whatever dream makes you happy”, Sigurd muttered, his sarcasm completely missed by the viking man who was way too happy to notice such thing, “I have things to do so…”

“True!” Magnus said loudly, “we have to send proper thanks for Freja. A sheep, maybe, some flowers and amber… I am going to sacrifice the most beautiful sheep I have for her honour and order rune stones to be made.”

“What…”, Sigurd said, but quickly changed his mind. Witnessing the religious ceremonies was one thing on his list and at least this man seemed to be no danger so he could as well join him for a while. It would not hurt. He should only take care to part ways before the viking started to dislike him and turn dangerous. Sigurd knew well the romance was no for him and his misfortune with past partners had proved him that he should stay far from anybody taking a liking on him. It was never nothing else than yet once more broken heart for him. 

“I still haven’t heard your name”, Magnus noted in middle of collecting items all around the house for the sacrifice, “or should I keep calling you gorgeous?” It seemed that the man was well-off as he had several weapons, apparently own house and even pieces of gold and jewelry. Sigurd quietly noted that it wasn’t the worst place he had landed.

“Sigurd”, he said, assuming that whatever the word he had been called with exactly meant, it was something for a lover to call his partner. Something he didn’t really want to be called with.

“Sigurd”, Magnus repeated, tasting the name on his lips, “my name is Magnus. Hopefully I will soon hear you screaming it for pleasure.” Sigurd stared at the man, shocked about his straight forward words, and quietly promised himself to never utter the viking’s name out loud. Not in any situation or state of mind. It would be the forbidden name, never to be sounded from his lips. 

Now in the dark, cold and miserable forest Sigurd didn’t really waste thoughts for Magnus who had ended up dragging him around all day. It hadn’t been so bad after all and Sigurd had soon realized having Magnus with helped a lot with the normal suspicious feelings he faced with the locals. He had got much deeper into society and learnt and seen more than he even dared to hope for his first visit, all because Magnus was with him. For his luck, it even turned out the viking man wasn’t as pervert he had first seemed to be. In fact, he might have been utterly annoying but he also kept his hand to himself, his comments in level Sigurd allowed, and listened what he was told and changed his behaviour according it. Or at least he tried his best and failed graciously. He clearly aimed to win Sigurd to his side, but Sigurd knew that once the evening came he would be gone back to his own time. It was best to not give any hope for the poor viking man who strongly believed Freja himself had sent Sigurd to him and refused to change his mind no matter how many times Sigurd explained it was not healthy start of relationship to get attached on the first man falling on your lap by magic. 

Only that now Sigurd sat in the forest alone and hold back tears. In his excitement and the joy of finally seeing everything he had dreamed of for a long time, he had ignored the strange tired feeling he had got, assuming it to be just for all the new things he had experiences. It wasn’t until there in the forest, after he had excused himself for a toilet break and sneaked away from Magnus’ company, that he realized the mistake he had done. He had used all his power and there was no enough to get back home. In his pride he had assumed there was no limits for him, but he had been wrong and realized it with the most horrifying way. He was stuck there and nobody could help him.

Few tears fell from his eyes when he thought about his situation once the panic started to decrease and his mind work again. His first worry was his brother. He wasn’t sure how Eiríkur would survive without him. He was the one bringing money home and taking care of everything, his brother wasn’t ready to be thrown into independent life like this. He was the only family member he had left. Sigurd already missed him, feeling more miserable after everything he realize he wasn’t doing at home. He hadn’t picked up groceries, he hadn’t done dinner, he hadn’t tell Eiríkur to take the trash out and he hadn’t told him once more that he was important to him. It was weird that it all was going to happen in future after over thousand years and it was out of his reach. The rain started again but Sigurd didn’t even care just as he ignored how his body shook and tears fell from his eyes. For the first time ever he cursed the very skill he had always loved the most.

“Sigurd!” Magnus’ panicking voice finally broke the mental barrier he had made around himself, “Sigurd! Sigurd!”

“Here!” he yelled back weakly, his voice already getting hoarse from the cold. Just few hours earlier he had wondered how he had landed on the most annoying man ever, but now he was happy to hear at least one voice that had been friendly to him. Sure they had only known each other for ten hours or so, but Sigurd was in situation where there wasn’t really chance to take picks. So long Magnus believed he was sent by Freja, he would keep him safe. Sigurd hoped this time it would take longer before he was pushed away and left. Just so long that he had figured out what to do and could survive by his own.

“Oh Sigurd”, the viking man said when he hurried there, “I got worried. Are you hurt? Who did this to you? I am sorry I let you be alone I should have known my enemies are fast to get here. I swear this is the last time you need to worry about anything. How are you feeling?” The viking man hoovered around, trying to find out what was wrong but there wasn’t anything visible.

“I want to go home”, Sigurd muttered and for a moment Magnus was quiet. He draped his coat over Sigurd’s body, being very gentle with pulling him up and wrapping his arms around him for more warmth and comfort. Sigurd didn’t know the man. There was nothing in Magnus that could ease his miserable feelings, but right then the warmth of another human body was the only thing bringing at least some comfort and he accepted it. 

“It is okay”, Magnus whispered when he started to guide Sigurd back to the house he had been brought in by magic that morning, “you will be happy with me. I promise. I will do everything you want.” Sigurd didn’t reply, but he didn’t refuse the hand pushing him forward. 

****** 

“Nice place you have got”, Tino commented when he had took a good look around the two bedroom flat Sigurd and Eiríkur had.

“It is sufficient”, Eiríkur replied. Both, he and his brother, preferred to live in countryside, but they also needed to stay closer to the city for Sigurd’s work and Eiríkur’s studies. They had often talked about moving farther away once Eiríkur had graduated

“Much better than living in a van, I assure you”, Tino noted and Eiríkur frowned. 

“You live in that thing?” he asked and Tino nodded, “where you are from anyway? Your Norwegian sounds funny.” Tino laughed and continued his way around the apartment.

“Funny you say”, he shook his head with amusement, “it is not Norwegian at all. I am speaking Swedish. Thought I admit I do change some words to make sure I get understood right and my accent is bit off.”

“Oh”, Eiríkur said and made a note for himself to pay more attention on what the man was actually saying. He felt slightly embarrassed for not being able to make the difference. 

“You also speak with an accent”, Tino noted.

“My first language is Icelandic”, Eiríkur said and grimaced when he saw the curious glance Tino gave him, “family drama. Don’t ask.”

“Ah, I understand”, Tino said and luckily decided to not ask more, “I am actually a Finn. Work takes me around a lot. Haven’t been in Finland for a while.”

“Okay”, Eiríkur muttered. They had walked around the apartment already for a while and he had no idea what Tino was doing. He only assumed it was something magical, but the man wasn’t really doing any gestures or muttering strange words or anything that Eiríkur would connect with magic. He was just looking around like he was a house dealer checking the new mission’s price or just somebody who planned to rob the place. Eiríkur was rather happy there wasn’t much to rob, just in case it turned out Tino did that too. 

“Okay, so he was here when he did the magic”, Tino said, stopping in middle of Sigurd’s bedroom. Eiríkur hadn’t say anything about which room was which but it seemed Tino could figure something out himself.

“How you know that?”

“It is very simple”, Tino said, observing the room carefully, “I work mostly with dead people, but the truth is that even living ones have the spirit inside of them. Or soul, if you prefer that word. Just as I see ghosts, I can sense the spirits and this is the spot where his spirits disappears suddenly without any other explanation than that he left the place by magic.”

“So when you mentioned about summoning living people…”

“Yeah, I could do that”, Tino said, “but as I said, it is very messy business and rather unpleasant for the target so I prefer not to. Well, at least we can be sure he never came back.”

“What?”

“His spirit didn’t return here”, Tino said, “do I guess right that time traveling is tied to the place? He can’t pop up at another place, but stays always on one spot so only the time chance?”

“Yeah, that is true”, Eiríkur nodded, “it is not teleportation. If we want to get directly to one place we have to move there either before travel or after it.”

“Wow, it would sucks to end up in middle of manure pile of something”, Tino noted.

“Yeah, Sigurd has done that few times”, Eiríkur said, feeling sharp pain when he thought about the excited way how his brother shared his experiment after coming back home. Eiríkur had always had little interest toward that, he didn’t share the same love with his brother or cared about magic much, but now he wished so hard Sigurd would be back and explain him what he had managed to see this time. 

“Okay, that is good”, Tino muttered to himself, “there might then be somebody around that has seen him.”

“What you mean?” Eiríkur asked, “of course there are people around that have seen him. He is quiet but we have neighbors and…”

“Eiríkur”, Tino said and gave the young man a long look, “I am a ghost nanny. There are some very old ghosts around.”

“Oh”, Eiríkur said when he understood, “okay. Cool.”

“The question is just that into which time era he went to”, Tino muttered, “I guess he had been in multiple eras in this one place so I need to know in order to be sure I am speaking with right folk. Did he mention anything?”

“Not really”, Eiríkur muttered, trying to recall if his brother had said anything about his plans. He tended to make his decisions quite last minute and he had some favorite eras he visited often just for fun, but Eiríkur had heard him talking about finally finding something from the viking era, making it possible for him to travel there. He frowned and glanced at the window sill where Sigurd kept the objects he could use for time travel. It didn’t surprise him to notice the only piece missing was the small iron piece he had said was from viking axe.

“He is in viking era”, he said and quickly explained Tino how he knew it. The man nodded and gave Eiríkur a comforting smile.

“Okay, so we have something to start with”, he said with a nod, “I will go to take a look around. You can stay here and keep company for Hana. He presence tends to scare off spirits, which is why I summoned her but it also makes job hard sometimes.”

“Okay”, Eiríkur said and glanced at the white dog that had already claimed one couch corner for herself and was biting a shoe she had stolen, “wait, it is one o’clock in night. Are you sure you wanna do it now?”

“Yeah, never heard about ghosts being more active during night?” Tino asked.

“Well, I guess…”

“Because that is a lie”, the man continued, “they don’t care which time it is, but the living people are sleeping during night so I get so much more peace for my work. Don’t worry, I will find my way around here.”

“Okay”, Eiríkur said with a shrug and watched the strange ghost whisperer storming out to the night. He glanced at the small dog who barely bothered to open one eye for taking contact, “what a strange master you have got.” The dog barked softly one time and then went back to sleep.


	4. Chapter 4

It took for a while to Sigurd to wake up and when he did, it took another moment more for him to realize and remember what had happened. He stared at the unfamiliar roof over him, smelling the ground under his bed and listening voices outside, easily recognizing the one belonging to Magnus because he had listened it a lot yesterday. He didn’t know who the man was speaking with and the voices were not strong enough for him to pick up the words so he quickly gave up trying. Instead he focused, trying to think his problem in rational way because he had already wasted all night with just feeling bad. If he wanted be back home he had to work for it.

He got up carefully, grimacing when he felt the pain in his lungs. The time in rainy forest hadn’t really been his best idea after all, but he would survive it. Magnus’ house wasn’t big in Sigurd’s standards but he assumed for Magnus and his fellows it was one of the biggest ones for a single person. The living area consistent only one big room with a fireplace. Magnus sleeping place was on other side and thought he had invited Sigurd to share it, the Norwegian had refused. He knew well that sleeping in same bed was merely an useful habit to keep warm during these days, but he had grown up in modern society and he wasn’t comfortable sharing bed with a man who had earlier joked about sleeping with him just few minutes after meeting him for the first time. However, he did had accepted the long tunic Magnus had offered for replacing the clothes that had got soaking wet in rain. Sigurd glanced at the clothes now hanging near the fireplace. He had sew them himself, and with the hair-clip he used they served as his key back to home. Or they should if he hadn’t been stupid and used up all his magic.

Sigurd glanced around quickly to make sure he really was alone, and then he reached for the small satchel he had took with him. Inside was his collection of the necessities he always took with him just in case something went wrong. There had been few times he had needed those items, but first time ever he had to take a moment to check what he actually had and think how it was going to help him as it was all he had.

His current ownings consisted few small gold jewelries he had inherited from his grandmother, small packet of antibiotics he had got after faking a lung fever, bandages, disinfection liquid for cuts, a Swiss knife and a small photo of him and his brother for emotional support. It wasn’t much. It didn’t even help that he also owned one set of clothes, he was still rather poor man without much on his name or connections to use. He stared at his few possessions on the table and sighed. It would have been easy to get back into the dumb panic state, but he knew in order to find a way back he needed to think logically and work for it. So far he was safe. Magnus was taking care of things at least for now and there were no immediate dangers. Sigurd raised his hand, testing his powers with a small spell. Instead of the normal fire, the tips of his fingers barely warmed up. He was rather disappointed, but at least the magic still was in there somewhere.

“It will take years before it is all restored”, he muttered to himself with an unhappy tone, “I better not use it at all.” It didn’t take much to guess he would need all his power to get back home, but at least there was the last hope. If he didn’t came up with anything else, he would just have to wait for few years. A real worst case scenario, but he was rather hopeful he could survive few years alive even in this era. 

He heard steps outside the house so he quickly collected everything back in the satchel and, in lack of any other things to do, just sat there quietly. It didn’t surprise him that one of the men stepping in was Magnus although he wasn’t familiar with the other man following in too. Magnus’ eyes glanced first at Sigurd’s sleeping place near the door and he frowned before noticing the man sitting at table. He smiled.

“Morning. I hoped you would be up soon”, he said and gestured at the man behind him, “this is Berwald, my brother. Berwald, this is the man Freja sent to me!” Berwald didn’t look like he thought a goddess would bother with sending anybody to anybody, especially to Magnus, but he still politely nodded toward Sigurd before grunting something in low tone.

“I told you, he appeared suddenly on my lap”, Magnus said with clearly annoyed tone, “what else can that be than a sign? An accident? People don’t drop on other people’s laps by accident, Berwald.”

“You were an accident”, Berwald replied.

“I was not!” Magnus snarled back and Sigurd discovered right then that brothers had always been same through the times, because that was exactly something he would have start a fight about with Eiríkur, “Sigurd, tell him what happened.”

“He is right”, Sigurd said, “although, I don’t think Freja had much to do with it.”

“But Sigurd.”

“I told you that ten times and still you don’t believe it.”

“He has always been an idiot”, Berwald said and gave a short nod to Sigurd to show he somehow had decided the man was okay. Sigurd didn’t really know what to think about Magnus’ brother. First of all, he seemed to be rather quiet and there was some kind of scary aura around him although it seemed to not affect Magnus. For the first look it seemed like there was no way they were sharing any blood at all, so different they were with their acting, but after more observing Sigurd had to admit they had some same looks. 

“Should you get back to your forest already”, Magnus said dryly and glared at his brother, “troll.”

“You were one inviting me here”, Berwald replied.

“Yeah, but I only wanted to brag about my prayers getting answered while yours are ignored”, Magnus said and made showing gesture with his hands, “go, go.”

“Happily”, Berwald grunted and nodded shortly to Sigurd for goodbye before leaving the house. Magnus looked after him for a while before turning to look at his guest, with a gentle smile on his lips.

“I am not really that bad brother”, he explained and managed to surprise Sigurd that had not expected that topic coming up next, “I know he had been praying too, even if he hasn’t told anybody about it, and he has been lonely so long. I just wanted to show Freja do give answers but he just has to wait for it. You know, give some hope to him, but I can’t just go around telling him it like that. I have reputation to keep and he is my little brother.”

“Somehow I understand what you mean”, Sigurd replied, his voice slightly hoarse after the cold night in forest, “but you are still confusing. What was the word in your last sentence?”

“What word?” Magnus asked and frowned, “oh right, I forgot. This is not your mother language, isn’t it?”

“Not exactly”, Sigurd replied. His mother language didn’t exists yet, thought he could say it was just a modern version of the one Magnus was speaking. He hadn’t been talking much on previous day, letting Magnus to do most of social parts.

“Maybe I know your language”, Magnus muttered and said few words that Sigurd didn’t understand but could recognize as something else than Old Norse. He shook his head.

“It is not very common language around here”, he said and Magnus nodded thought he seemed to be disappointed. 

“How are you feeling?” he asked and started to look for something to eat, “you were quite shaken up yesterday.”

“I am fine”, Sigurd replied and hoped the viking would not want to know more details. He was already feeling awkward, sitting there in house of somebody he didn’t even know and was still depended on. At least Magnus seemed to not mind about that. He was just all about sunshine and smiles, quite unfitting expression for hardened warrior as Sigurd has already discovered him to be. He indeed had fell on rather strange man, but maybe that was his luck. Only Magnus would ever take a stranger appearing out of nowhere as a promised love interest sent by the goddess herself. 

Luckily for Sigurd, Magnus finally seemed to get the idea of being quiet and didn’t say anything while he looked for the food and brought it to the table. He seemed to be deeply in his own thoughts but he still smiled when Sigurd glanced at him.

“I hope there is something you like”, he said once he was done, and Sigurd looked at the table. He had been born and raised in society of markets. He had got used to have any food he wanted at any moment of day or time of season. Compared to that, the berries, cold and tasteless porridge and hard, salted meat pieces Magnus had presented to him were nothing. Still Sigurd nodded and picked up few berries while the viking man smiled widely. For Magnus this breakfast was luxury and without Sigurd knowing, he had given it the last he had right then. He was satisfied to see the man enjoyed it.

“Sigurd”, he said after the man had eat his fill, “I…”

“What?” Sigurd asked, frowning when he saw the hesitation on the viking’s face. Magnus seemed to be unsure about what to say and for his own sake Sigurd hoped he wasn’t being kicked out right then. He wished to have at least few days more to figure out his whole situation.

“I just realized yesterday night”, the viking said, “that maybe you didn’t pray for the same thing I did. Sorry about that. I kind of assumed that if Freja sent you to me, it meant you too had prayed for her, but when I saw how upset you were and asked to go home I just… I realized maybe you didn’t wish the same thing I did. I am sorry about that.”

“I don’t think it is your fault”, Sigurd said, surprised about hearing that because he hadn’t really imagined Magnus being the kind of guy who could observe such things.

“I was one who prayed.”

“Then blame Freja”, Sigurd said.

“I don’t dare”, Magnus replied and hesitated before continuing, “and after all, I did pray and I got you. I am sorry you got dragged here, but maybe we could see what happens, right? Take the chance?” Sigurd blinked few times and then shrugged.

“I can’t give promises.”

“I never asked for love in first sight”, Magnus noted, “just for a chance. I have to admit it was quite surprise to get my chance like this, shoved on my lap.”

“You shouldn’t keep your hopes up like that”, Sigurd said with a sigh, “I am not easy one to love.”

“I like challenges”, Magnus replied with smile, “and you sound like you are at least little accepting so I think this is going on very promising for me.” Sigurd sighed again, figuring that whatever he did, the viking would see it positive for his tries. Although, he had to admit that he wasn’t being straight forward declining in fear of being tossed out if Magnus got tired of him. Sigurd knew he was going to have hard time with this balancing between being friendly but not too friendly with Magnus and somehow keeping up his hopes but still not leading on. He was already feeling the coming headache and hoped he had packed some painkillers with him. 

“Whatever you say”, Sigurd muttered.

“Do you want to go to town today or help me gather food?” Magnus asked, quickly changing the topic.

“I guess I should stay with you.”

“So you do feel something toward me.”

“It is called being polite and friendly guest, viking”, Sigurd muttered and Magnus laughed, “you know what. I am deciding on town instead and will join you later.”

“Okay”, Magnus said, “I will be there too, anyway, so you are not alone.”

“Listen…”

“It your second day here, you don’t know the folk around and I am not sure if you are over the last night”, Magnus explained quickly, “so I am gonna keep you on eye, you know.”

“I know your brother”, Sigurd said, but he did admit that Magnus got the point. 

“Berwald doesn’t go to town”, Magnus said, “and it would be a bad idea of you to show up with him anyway.”

“Why?”

“People are scared of him”, Magnus said like it was the common knowledge, “they would think you are like him too. Though, if you ever ran to problems and I am not around, you should go to him anyway.”

“What you mean?”

“He is…”, Magnus said and muttered a word Sigurd had never heard before. He frowned and tried to figure it out by looking the viking’s expression, but there wasn’t much to figure out from that smile.

“I didn’t understand”, he said, “what you said?”

“I will tell you another day!” Magnus said and jumped up, suddenly excited again, “let’s go already! Berwald said there are traveling merchants. He saw them crossing the forest.”  Sigurd nodded, wondering how could somebody go from upset to mysterious and finally happily excited just in few minutes. It might have been his lucky he had landed on somebody filling to help him out without really knowing him, but he wasn’t sure how far he should go.

On way to the town, dressed on clothes borrowed from Magnus, Sigurd thought about things and made his plan. He had used enough time for panicking and it was time to work. Magnus kept talking all the way, his voice easily filling the whole forest, but Sigurd replied only few nods that were all not perfectly timed but Magnus didn’t seem to notice that. He just kept talking while Sigurd finished his plan.

It was an easy plan, actually. The first step was to make sure Magnus would not ditch him so long he needed the man’s help. Second step was to either find a way to get back home or how to refill his magic faster. The third step was to make sure he would survive few years in case the step two failed. He admitted his plan was rather simply and needed some more details, but at least he had something.

“Something wrong?” Magnus asked when he heard Sigurd sighing.

“No”, Sigurd replied, trying to offer a small smile to the viking, “just thinking about something.” Just as he had assumed, Magnus paid that excuse easily and focused once again to talk about some people he used to buy vegetables from. Sigurd observed him quietly, wondering how he was actually going to carry out his plan. 


End file.
